Glover

*1330 Opinion

Petitioner John Glover appeals from judgment denying his petition for writ of mandate seeking to reverse the decision of respondent Board of Retirement of the County of Los Angeles, that although he was disabled from performing the duties of his job, the disability was not service-connected. Appellant 1 contends that Glover’s disability was service-connected because he was engaged in active law enforcement thus entitled to the heart trouble presumption of section 31720.5 of the Government Code; and that the finding that the disability is not service-connected is not supported by substantial evidence.

Facts

Glover had been a cook for 40 years, 25 of which he spent as a cook in the Navy. In 1971 he was employed by the County of Los Angeles, first as senior cook, then as head cook at various detention and jail facilities. On October 24, 1984, while working at his job as head cook at the Hall of Justice jail, he suffered a myocardial infarction; he was found by his kitchen clerk (a trusty) in the supply room with his head down resting on a table; he was in severe pain and had difficulty standing, and the trusty walked him to the kitchen gate area to ensure his safety;…

I respectfully dissent.

I must confess, when I first started researching this case, I did not expect to find merit in the contention a cook could be “engaged in active law enforcement.” However, as I dug deeper and as I learned more about what this particular cook did and the conditions under which he had to operate, I became convinced.

Before discussing where and how I differ with the majority opinion, I want to set forth the points of agreement. To begin with, I concede that if Glover is not entitled to the presumption granted those engaged in “active law enforcement” then the majority is correct in finding there is substantial evidence to support the denial of Glover’s service-connected pension. 1 Con *1341 versely, I believe it is fair to imply from the majority opinion my colleagues agree that if Glover indeed were entitled to the presumption then the evidence in the record would not support a denial of the pension.

To set the latter issue to rest, however, we have only to drop this particular, unusually robust presumption into the pool of evidence which moved the pension board and the trial court to deny Glover his pension. The first effect of the presumption, of course,…

Petitioner John Glover appeals from judgment denying his petition for writ of mandate seeking to reverse the decision of respondent Board of Retirement of the County of Los Angeles, that although he was disabled from performing the duties of his job, the disability was not service-connected. Appellant [1] contends that Glover's disability was service-connected because he was engaged in active law enforcement thus entitled to the heart trouble presumption of section 31720.5 of the Government Code; and that the finding that the disability is not service-connected is not supported by substantial evidence.

Glover had been a cook for 40 years, 25 of which he spent as a cook in the Navy. In 1971 he was employed by the County of Los Angeles, first as senior cook, then as head cook at various detention and jail facilities. On October 24, 1984, while working at his job as head cook at the Hall of Justice jail, he suffered a myocardial infarction; he was found by his kitchen clerk (a trusty) in the supply room with his head down resting on a table; he was in severe pain and had difficulty standing, and the trusty walked him to the kitchen gate area to ensure his…